This application requests support for a cooperative agreement with the Agency for Health Care Policy Research (AHCPR) to establish a developmen- tal minority MEDTEP health services research center at Meharry Medical College (MMC). The center will be an extension of Meharry's Mission and that of its Institute on Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (IHCPU) to search for more effective ways of providing equitable access and quality medical care for the growing number of poor and medically underserved American citizens, a disproportionate percentage of whom are African American. The specific aims of the Meharry Minority MEDTEP health Services Research Center would be 1) to identify and recruit key faculty persons with training and/or experience in outcomes and health services research, 20 to collect baseline data to be used in evaluating the outcomes of current and future programs by field testing research instruments and other pilot investigations, 3) to provide, in collabora- tion with established health services research programs, faculty development and enrichment experiences for Meharry faculty, 4) to introduce minority health professionals and other health science students to outcomes and health services research, 5) to define local/regional technical assistance needs in cooperation with community and government agencies, and 6) to publish a quarterly Center newsletter and expand the IHCPU clearinghouse to include more information/data relevant specifically to outcomes and health services research. By its very nature, a developmental center will focus its efforts on building the necessary foundation for an active, broad agenda in research, training, technical assistance, and dissemination. Meharry will build the center on the strong network of institutional, organizational, and agency relationships that provide an extraordinary health services research "laboratory".